'Inappropriate': The White House complained about the slur by Mark Halperin

The White House has expressed its anger to MSNBC after a senior political analyst called President Obama a 'd***' live on the Morning Joe show.

The network has already suspended Mark Halperin, also Time magazine's editor-at-large, over the slur.

But White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters last night that the remark was uncalled for.

He said: 'The comment that was made was
inappropriate. It would be inappropriate to say that about any
president of either party. And on behalf of the White House, I
expressed that sentiment to executives at the network.'

Halperin immediately apologised for the
comment, made after the show's host Joe Scarborough jokingly told him he
could say what he thought of the president because the programme was
being recorded on a delay.

But
the producer failed to hit the seven-second delay button, so this
morning millions of Americans heard Mr Halperin say: 'I thought he was
kind of a d*** yesterday.'

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Lapse: MSNBC's senior political analyst, Mark Halperin, has been suspended indefinitely after calling President Obama a 'd***' live on television this morning

The suspension is unlikely to stop Mr Halperin himself being in Obama's line of fire on tax - he is a millionaire in his own right after signing a $5million book deal last year to co-author a title on the 2012 elections

'Again, I want to offer a heartfelt
and profound apology to the President, to my MSNBC colleagues, and to
the viewers. My remark was unacceptable, and I deeply regret it.'

SO WHO IS MARK HALPERIN?

Mr Halperin began his career as desk assistant at ABC News, after graduating from Harvard in 1987.

He spent more than 20 years at the channel, and became its political director in 1997.

Mr Halperin left ABC in 2007 to join Time Magazine as its editor-at-large and senior political analyst.

While he was at ABC he founded The Note, an online daily tipsheet on American politics, which he now maintains at Time.com.

He also became a regular contributor to MSNBC, and last year formally joined the news network as its senior political analyst.

Despite being known to support Mr Obama, in the 2008 election, he was an outspoken critic of what he perceived as biassed reporting.

He said: 'It's the most disgusting failure of people in our business since the Iraq war. It was extreme bias, extreme pro-Obama coverage.'

Last year he co-authored a book on the elections with New York Magazine's John Heilemann, which spent several weeks at the top of the New York Times's bestselling list.

Soon afterwards, the pair netted a $5million advance for their planned book on this year's election.

He lives in New York City with his partner Karen Avrich.

He
also apologised on Twitter, and later Time Magazine also issued a
statement, saying: 'Mark Halperin’s comments on air this morning were
inappropriate and in no way reflective of Time’s views.

'We
have issued a warning to him that such behaviour is unacceptable. Mark
has appropriately apologised on air, via Twitter and on The Page.'

In yesterday's press conference,
Mr Obama launched a scathing attack on super-rich jet owners as he
desperately looked for a way to deal with the country's spiralling debt.

The
president focused attention on class differences as he sought to
increase taxes for people earning over $250,000 and tackle the
Republicans over their plans for the economy.

But outraged critics retaliated by
pointing out that just running a private jet costs $500,000 a year - far
more than a family earning $250,000 could afford. Meanwhile, the
average jet costs $5m just to buy.

They suggested that Obama's
announcements at a conference on Monday were simply a smokescreen in
order to raise taxes among middle-class families.

Republicans and the Tea Party want to tackle debt by cutting public services while also lowering taxes for the average citizen.

Obama said that Democrats had agreed to billions of dollars in budget cuts that would inevitably lose them votes.

But he accused Republicans of
refusing to compromise by not agreeing to eliminate tax breaks to owners
of corporate jets and profit-rich oil companies.

'I'm
proposing we get rid of are tax breaks for millionaires and
billionaires, tax breaks for oil companies and hedge fund managers and
corporate jet owners,' Obama said.

The
president said Democrats had already shown they were ready to 'take on
their sacred cows' by agreeing to big cuts in programs important to the
party and its supporters. Republicans must be too, he said.

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'I've said to Republican leaders,
''You go talk to your constituents and ask them, Are you willing to
compromise your kids' safety so some corporate-jet owner can get a tax
break?'' '

Obama mentioned corporate jets three more times before moving on.

But he provoked anger after it was
pointed out that hundreds of wealthy Democrat donors - who Obama has
rewarded with cushy jobs in government - fly on corporate jets.

Commentators also highlighted the amount of private trips Obama takes on private jets when going for family holidays.

Luxury: Private jets coast around $5m and $500,000 a year to run - far more than somebody earning $250,000 could afford

For the third consecutive year Obama is
planning to return to Martha's Vineyard for vacation this summer,
according to a White House official.

One rule for them...The Obamas will fly in their private jet to the holiday island of Martha's Vineyard this summer for the third consecutive time

The Obamas are scheduled to spend seven to 10 days on the island in the Cape Cod in New England in mid- to late August, according to the official.

Arrangements for White House staff members and Secret Service personnel who travel with the Obamas have been made.

Obama has began focusing on the economy after repeated warnings from financial organisations and appalling poll ratings.

The Treasury Department says it must be able to borrow more money by August 2 or the U.S. faces an unprecedented default on its mounting $14.3 trillion debt, predicted to grow by $1.4 trillion by the end of this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.

Obama, facing a re-election bid in
November 2012, has watched his poll numbers languish below 50 percent
approval, primarily because of the sluggish economic recovery after the
Great Recession.

Critics
point out that Obama simply lacks the strength to take on the federal
reserve and big businesses that are pulling government strings on the
economy.

With the coming election fight
clearly in mind, he openly attacked Republicans for holding to what he
called an 'unsustainable' position. Regardless, the opposition party
says it will not vote to raise the debt limit unless Democrats agree -
without any taxes increases - to $2 trillion in cuts to government
spending over 10 years.

Obama's aggressive response came with
the country souring on the recovery, the Republican presidential
contenders taking aim at his economic record and opposition leaders in
Congress challenging him to show more leadership in the debt stalks.

His re-election hinges on the economy, and Obama is trying to restore a sense of public confidence.Obama has faced such countdowns before.